Liquid Foot + 12+

[TieDyedDevil]

FAMCmusic started shipping a new floor controller last month.

Here's the info page:

http://famcmusic.com/product_lf+12+.shtml

The first thing you'll notice: every button has its own 2-line LCD display which can have its own text and color.

Surprisingly, that's not the coolest thing about this board, which is *not* a repackaged version of the well-known LF Pro and LF Jr. series. On the LF+, you're no longer confined to predetermined layouts of preset and IA switches; any button can perform any function. In fact, each button can perform *two* functions (one for a tap, the other for a longer press).

But wait, there's more! The LF+ has "pages" that you can use to organize buttons. For example, you can group buttons of related functions onto a page, and bring up the page you need to control the FX of interest for a particular scenario.

And... you can also group buttons on a page so that they behave in a mutually-exclusive fashion. Click one button in a group to turn it on, and all the others in the group automatically turn off. Very cool.

Then there's the already cool stuf that carries forward from the original LF controllers: multi-step buttons, collections of settings for songs, collections of songs for set-lists, etc.

I was sitting around this past weekend doing some MIDI hacking with my FC-300 and Eleven Rack, lamenting that some of the things I wanted to do are impractical with the FC-300. I made up a blue-sky wish list of things that I'd *love* to see in a MIDI floorboad. A couple hours later I stumbled upon the LF+, which covered my entire wish list (including the items that I didn't really expect to get, like the per-switch LCDs).

My FC-300 controller has grown with the addition of a MIDI event processor (for mapping CC #s and programming additional features), an extra FS-6 switch and an extra expression pedal. What was once a compact, convenient unit developed a bit of "sprawl" as I started to push its capabilities.

I sent a request for information on late Saturday evening, had a response waiting when I work up Sunday, and placed my order on Monday. My LF+ ships today!

I anticipate replacing my "controller sprawl" with just the LF+, a single board less than a foot square. Expression pedals will give way to either grouped or stepped switches, since I really only need a few settings for a "little more" and a "little less", rather than completely continuous control. (If I ever used wah, which I don't, I'd have to plug in an expression pedal).

One more thing... During the course of my research I discovered some folks who were, in the past, unhappy with availability of and support for Liquid Foot. The principal of the company has publically acknowledged past mistakes, and has taken steps to improve. I have no axe to grind regarding past behaviors; I can only tell you that I have already had a significant number of interactions which have been both prompt and professional.

I'll keep y'all posted if anyone's interested in hearing how this works out...

[Muzza_Boogie]

Cool, I remember they're beginnings on the afx forum

[blewis]

Very capable. Very expensive.

I missed out on buying a Liquid Foot Jr here locally for $280. Wound up with the GCP instead.

19" wide is my limit and the GCP is 17".

Wish the GCP had MIDI note control and I wish I could store IAs per preset, but it works pretty well with the 11R and was < 1/2 the cost of the 12+.

But yeah, the 12+ looks badass and you'll have to give us a run down of how it works for you.

Cool stuff!

[TieDyedDevil]

First impressions...

The LF+ 12+ arrived this morning (yes, this morning... more on that in a second) and it's AWESOME!

I should have had the package about a week ago, but Jeff (the principal of the company) decided to hold it back for a firmware update to make the LF+ interoperate with the then-forthcoming (and since released) editor. Jeff did let me know what was going on. No harm, no foul.

The extra wait time gave me an opportunity to modify my break-out panel with a 7-pin MIDI connection to power the LF+ from the rack. I velcro'd a universal-voltage switching power supply inside the rack; the entire rack is now ready for my world tour (or more realistically, for my emigration to Europe).

I've already run the beta editor under WINE on my Linux box, since I neither own nor have ready access to a Windows machine. Aside from not being able to speak directly to the LF+ (WINE doesn't yet support USB), the editor works fine. I'm not yet certain whether I can send a sysex file to the LF+ via MIDI. There's a Mac version of the editor in progress, so I'll be able to run that if necessary.

Jeff has offered to build a Linux version of the editor for me to test. He's not a Linux guy; while I'd be happy to have an editor run on Linux, I'm not going to push him to deliver something for just *one* customer. When I ordered the LF+, I didn't expect to have or use an editor.

The LF+ is really easy to program with one's feet. The LCDs are bright with very readable text. The navigation is easy to understand. The per-button LCDs contain text to explain the functions of each button while programming. That alone is worth the extra cost over the version without those twelve extra displays.

Of course, the displays are also used to show patch and IA names when you're using the unit; no more makeshift labels!

I have programmed enough (just the necessary IAs) to get me through rehearsal tonight. I've been sketching out some strategies for taking advantage of the extreme programming flexibility of the LF+. Once I have time to try out some ideas, I may make a quick demo video.

[Muzza_Boogie]

look forward to hearing more

[TieDyedDevil]

I have nothing more to say regarding deployment, yet. More soon, I hope...

What I would like to add is that support is Outstanding, with a capital O.

Last night I submitted a ticket regarding a programming task that I was failing to accomplish (briefly, adding a momentary brake switch to the rotary effect such that releasing the brake would return the rotary to its previous speed). Not a bug... just asking whether my attempted solution seemed right and whether I might be overlooking something obvious...

In my mailbox this morning: a firmware update that adds the command I needed to simplify that programming task! And it works!

[blewis]

How are things going with the LF 12+? Still liking it? Anything new to report?

I'm thinking of maybe getting at LF JR+. I've got a GC Pro, but it's just too large and there's some MIDI stuff I'd like to trigger that it doesn't support - like MIDI notes.

Also waiting to see what Kemper comes out with - hopefully some kind of announcement coming at NAMM. But the Kemper unit's philosophy is to be Kemper specific and not MIDI generic, so I'm not sure I want to go down that route.

Any concerns about those LCDs going bad from a reliability standpoint?

[TieDyedDevil]

Originally Posted by blewis

How are things going with the LF 12+? Still liking it? Anything new to report?

Still using it. Still loving it.

The functionality has been enhanced in numerous small ways since the early releases, always with an eye toward not introducing "surprises" for those of us who have already settled into the way we want our LF+ to behave.

I have pushed the capabilities far enough that I'd like to have more IA slots; a *lot* more. I discussed this with Jeff. Reasonably so, he pointed out the challenges in such an extension. Nevertheless, he acknowledged the request and from time to time contacts me regarding ways of possibly including this feature in the long term.

I did finally figure out how to access the USB port from WINE on my Linux box, so I now have a fully-functional editor as well. To be honest, though, I rarely use the editor for any purpose other than to install a firmware update (which happens much faster over USB than MIDI) and - once in a rare while - to rearrange the order of my small number of presets (which is easier done in the editor than directly on the box). Everything else I still tweak on the LF+'s built-in UI.

I can't say enough good things about support. I always use the "trouble ticket" web page to submit, at this late stage, mostly questions and feature-enhancement requests. It's rare that more than a few hours elapse between submitting a ticket and getting a useful response.

Also waiting to see what Kemper comes out with - hopefully some kind of announcement coming at NAMM. But the Kemper unit's philosophy is to be Kemper specific and not MIDI generic, so I'm not sure I want to go down that route.

I tried out a KPA two days ago; I like what I saw and heard. My plan - as it now stands - is to wait a bit for the KPA firmware to become feature-complete and for Kemper to ship their proprietary floor controller (hopefully in a size that'll comfortably fit in the same bag as the lunchbox).

A KPA, when I eventually buy one, won't replace the current Eleven Rack / LP1 / LF+ rig. Rather it'll be a slightly less-capable, more portable gig rig as well as a more flexible recording rig. Also, I'd use the KPA strictly as a profile player; I haven't owned an actual guitar amp for going on five years now.

I like the proposals I've seen for the foot controller, especially with respect to the two-way communication between the KPA and the controller.

I spent a few hours scanning the public KPA forums. One thing that really impressed me was Christoph Kemper's assertion that firmware updates will *never* alter the sound of existing profiles or patches. This guy seems to understand that the effort put into shaping a particular sound is not to be taken lightly.

Any concerns about those LCDs going bad from a reliability standpoint?

I never thought about that before, but... no.

Thinking about all the consumer electronics I have with LED and LCD displays and how many of those have ever failed, barring severe physical trauma, is: none. In fact, the only (modern) display technology that's ever seemed to have longevity issues (from my personal experience) are those (usually white or blue-green) vacuum-fluorescent displays.